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Characters: Open Location: Jasper Desert Content Warnings: N/A Plot Summary: Jeff finally caves and buys a gun (through not so reputable sellers) in an attempt to relieve himself of stress. He takes it for a test run/target practice.
Jeff wasn’t sure what to think about getting a gun.
Technically he didn’t buy the gun - that had been one of his “friends” with a license and Jeff’s cash. He’d given it over but Jeff still felt a fair bit of guilt especially because they were part of the reason he needed one.
As a kid, his dad had taught him to shoot - and it had always had a calming effect on him. It wasn’t the thrill of hurting anything - in fact he typically just shit random bottles or other things. But it was just relaxing as it always reminded him of his time with his dad, those days they’d spend hanging out, doing nothing and talking about everything.
Right now he’d set up some bottles - empty beer ones. And had spent his time trying to regain his aim. It helped do the trick he wanted - to get his mind off of the stress that had a choke hold on his life right now. But at the same time, he definitely felt the sting still. The wonder... Would his dad be proud of him? Or would he be disappointed to see him go down this road.
The teenager didn’t think he needed or wanted the answer. Because he knew it in his heart already.
And so he kept up his attempts to shoot at the bottles. Figuring he’d have to hang up soon his handgun to save the magazine. Just in case he for some reason needed it. But he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Until then it was just his stress reliever out here in the desert. And it was good enough for him.
There was nothing like the lonely crawl and the desert wind. It'd been eons since he'd been home, so Steamhammer had taken to appreciating the simpler sights these planets offered him. He crawled across the sandy earth, his treads cracking the ground beneath them, having recently acquired his Earth-based alt mode. He was relieved to see these humans appreciated heavy digging equipment just as much as he did.
He'd simply been driving in a straight line aimlessly through the day, taking his sweet time in getting a feel for how the ground felt beneath his heavy duty treads. Any Decepticon with a shorter temper would've simply asked for a ground bridge to warp them back the moment they were done, but not Steamhammer; he needed to savor the experience. The constructicon felt mighty striding over Earth's deserts, alone. Occasionally, he would scoop up a patch of ground with his shovel, tossing it aside as he went.
Then, there were several faint cracks through the air. Projectiles, he thought; gunfire, more specifically. There wasn't a damned thing else in this desert, and Steamhammer hadn't quite gotten his fill of trailbreaking yet, so the hulking excavator turned its treads towards the sound.
Immediately he lowered his gun into the back of his pants. He felt a little shaky, who was out in the desert with that big an engine? Sure that sounded paranoia based but in a way it was. Jeff was always on guard, and always ready to fight for his life if need be. It was something that he picked up while in juvie which was a truly dog eat dog world in most every way.
So slowly he crouched forward to see what was coming. Was that an excavator? What the heck was one of those doing out in the desert? Was there some sort of construction going on out there? That would be his luck really, he’d probably been shooting his gun off on private property - during construction. That was great - how did one talk himself out of this? Especially since most construction workers were less than friendly to say the least.
He took a deep breath, and decided to place himself behind a rock. Maybe if he waited there quietly whoever it was wouldn’t notice him and he could get himself out of there - before whoever it was could do anything to him. Or at least call out his trespassing.. or whatever would happen really.
Damn it, now Steamhammer was curious. He'd triangulated the shots around a 30 meter radius around this very spot, and yet there was no sign of anything. Was he really investigating this? Was there nothing better to do at the moment? The answer to both questions was yes. He needed something to kill time, and this was it. It most likely wasn't anything of substantial importance, however; he theorized that he might just find some bit of old machinery, or a bit of some other refuse.
The excavator swiveled at the neck, as if it was looking with its main body. It didn't seem to be out in the desert for any reason in particular, other than to flatten the earth and look cool doing it. The massive machine rolled forwards a bit more, as if it'd found something important. His height allowed him to see the small earthling cowering behind a boulder to hide from him. Steamhammer was less than surprised. He'd gotten the same response out of dozens of other indigenous life forms on the hundreds of planets he'd visited over the millennia.
Aside from learning a language to blend in, he knew virtually nothing about the dominant species on this planet, humans, other than the fact that they were smaller than energon cubes. He simply stopped dead in his tracks, his empty cab looking straight through the boulder.
Jeff literally heard it stop seconds before his heart did.
Holy crap - there was no one in its cab.
Jeff screamed loud, probably louder than he’d ever admit out loud. His voice caught in his throat after a moment as he shook in fear. Falling backward he quickly grabbed for his gun - yep this qualified as a reason to use it. He was shaky and had no clue what was going on, but he had seen Maximum Overdrive and Christine enough times to know that most times you saw a talking vehicle they didn’t take you on magic adventures like KITT from Knight Rider.
“Ok, ok just uh... Stay where you are. I don’t know what you are. But I have seen enough Stephen King movies to know I am not about to become nameless teen #2!” He shouted pointing at him. “So if you’re looking to make me a human pancake you can take yourself far, far away because I’m not lying down! I have a gun!”
God he hoped they were intimidated by guns. Even if there was hardly anything he could do.
Oh no, he was scared. The little human had the gall to draw his pathetic little peashooter on him, too. That, or he was simply too terrified to know any better; and Steamhammer hadn't even transformed yet. He probably had better things to do, but there was no way he was passing up such a sweet opportunity to amuse himself.
It was probably the driverless cab that gave him away, but whatever. Just something he'd need to change for later.
The quarry excavator didn't appear to be all that moved by Jeff's threats of violence, nor did it move at all. The vehicle simply sat there, glaring at him. After a tense moment of silence, it spoke up in a booming voice hinted by an accent of what could vaguely be considered German, "Have you ever fired one at a living target?"
It talked, oh god it talked. What the hell has he just walked into? And it was... Mocking him? Of course he hadn’t ever shot a living target. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. Let alone kill anyone... Damn this... thing for reading through him like the scared kid he was underneath all the bravado. Usually intimidation worked, Jeff was a tall and tough looking kid. But then again this thing was a damn machine.
He let out a sharp breath, still trying to look tough. “N-No! But I’m not afraid to if that’s what you’re thinking. I just never had to...” god that sounded lameeee as he thought about it but he had to keep it up. “I can shoot this anytime I want to! The last guy that threatened me I beat the crap out of him.”
Yeah, after spending five years being beaten up by him. Jeff fumed at his own lies, this was really tough to do - keeping tough in front of a dang talking machine!
His assessment had been a correct one, though there was little room for error given the disparity in size. The little human was absolutely helpless in this situation, and he was trying so desperately to ignore that fact. Steamhammer almost pitied him for it, but then again, neither of them were in real danger.
Without warning, Steamhammer transformed, wanting to take his act just a bit further. Through the shifting and grinding of metal plates he emerged, literally towering over the tiny human. The Decepticon bent his arms together, peering down at the boy. What a day he must've been having, minding his own business only to have it ruined by a Constructicon minding his business too.
Oh my god this wasn’t actually happening right? He tried to slap his face lightly to wake himself up. Was he going to die right here? Was this creature going to kill him? God and he thought his life had been crazy before! Now he was gonna did by the foot or hand of some giant robot. Like something out of Terminator!
So what did he do?
He crumpled under the fear of course. Jeff might have been a tough guy, but at the end of the day he was just a scared kid underneath his rough exterior. He’d just turned sixteen a month ago - he has barely started to live his life even! “Come on man, I didn’t mean it! Please don’t hurt me! I can... I can do anything you want just don’t step on me,” he then added. “I mean I’ve always been ok with a robot uprising. I think Terminator had it all wrong!”
"Pull yourself together!" he roared. If there was one thing he despised, it was cowardice; there was nothing more ignoble than cowering in fear of the inevitable end. Steamhammer unfurled his arms, holding them down by his side with his massive fists clenched. "Do you buckle under every piece of adversity that the universe slides your way, hm?"
It was too bad the human was smart enough to have not discharged his weapon, otherwise Steamhammer would've had to classify him as a combatant. Of course all he was doing was screwing with the him for his own amusement, but the boy didn't need to know that. In retrospect he found it odd that he only found himself energized when he was sincerely messing with another bot, or in this cave life form. Steamhammer the prankster, he should say.
What the heck was that about? Did he crumple like this all the time? Uh, no. But he also wasn’t facing down a frickin’ monsterous robot every time either! All the same, he did what the mech said, scrambling to his feet. He backed up a bit, trying to put some distance between them, after all, he still wasn’t sure if this was friend or foe. For all he knew this thing was about to step on him at any minute!
He swallowed a bit, trying to calm himself down. Come on Jeff you can’t let this guy get to you! He was just a giant hunk of machinery... He could do this. “Yeah well it’s not every day I come across a giant metal...” he looked confused and terrified all at once. “What the hell are you supposed to be anyway? Voltron?”
What's a Voltron? "What is a Voltron? I don't care," Steamhammer asked, before dismissing his own question. "I am Cybertronian, you little carbon-based. Stop looking like a petradeer in headlights, you are having a meaningful conversation with another sentient being."
He had to admit, he might've been a sixty foot tall bulked-out construction worker, but even on Cybertron he hardly ever got these kind of responses. Only as Buildmaster had he ever struck real terror into the hearts of his enemies, not that Steamhammer minded. He liked acting smarter more than he did menacing. However, he was acting more menacing than usual in this instance. He was never one to interact much with the species whose buildings he was sent to cannibalize, but there was a first for everything.
Ok that was - different. But given the way he talked Jeff got a good feeling that it was definitely some sort of alien. Taking a deep breath, he began to hold his ground a bit more. Ok, so this guy wanted him to buck up? He could do that, he hardly wanted to look like a total loser in front of an alien after all. Who knew if this was this guys first time interacting with a human at all! If it was, he probably didn’t quite get what was so scary about him.
Either that or he didn’t care.
“Cybertronian huh? That’s interesting. Guess you’re an alien? Funny didn’t expect giant robots,” he explained, rather sarcastic a bit in order to try to be a bit tougher - and hopefully not pissing him off. “At lead you’re not a little green man with a giant head and big eyes. Those things were always weird, not creepy.”
Shoutbox
Please respect the space and don't hesitate to ask questions!
altria : please dont be dead?
Jun 14, 2023 22:40:34 GMT
Partia: Is this still alive?
Dec 17, 2022 6:02:02 GMT
Partia: Is this still alive?
Dec 17, 2022 6:01:34 GMT